Persona 5 – Review Roundup

Take Your Heart

The long wait for Persona 5 is over, and the reviews are in. The highly anticipated next entry in Atlus’s fan favourite JRPG series, known for its stylish visuals and complex character development, is a game I’ve been looking forward to for what seems like an eternity. Its predecessor, Persona 4, set an incredibly high standard for the genre. With its addictive mix of gameplay elements and refreshingly adult themes, combined with its wicked soundtrack and slick aesthetic, P5 has some incredibly big shoes to fill. Initial impressions have been overwhelmingly positive, but lets see what the industry’s critics think:

“A strong story and tremendous sense of style make this the best entry in the series yet.”

Andrew Goldfarb, IGN. 9.7 / 10 – Amazing.

“With more to do than ever and the series’ strongest story to date, it stands out as an extraordinary, memorable experience and easily one of the deepest JRPGs of the last decade”

I’ve been following Andrew Goldfarb ever since his days as the Dark Knight of News, on IGN’s PlayStation podcast Beyond. His passion and admiration for the Persona series is, at this stage, world renowned. This positively shines through in his review, and as a proven series veteran (seriously, anyone that earned the platinum trophy in Persona 4: Golden is deserving of respect) his opinion carries a lot of weight with me.

“Style and substance.”

Lucy James, Gamespot. 9/10

“There’s an overwhelming level of artistry in every part of Persona 5, making it a truly standout entry in the series. It’s a refined, effortlessly stylish RPG that will be talked about for years to come.”

I really appreciate Gamespot’s more longform written reviews. Lucy James isn’t a reviewer I am particularly familiar with, but I really enjoyed her review of Persona 5. It’s insightful, wonderfully worded, and I’ll be following her work with interest. While this is another very positive review, Lucy draws attention to an at times problematic camera, and issues with context sensitive climbing prompts, but admits these are very minor complaints in the grand scheme. I appreciated her description of the game’s lighter moments. Persona games have always balanced darker themes with moments of levity, and I’m glad that trend continues in P5.

“Yes, this is exactly how I remember high school”

Kirk Hamilton, Kotaku.

“Persona 5 is one of the most stylish video games I’ve ever played. It restlessly pulses toward the corners of your TV screen, as if unable to contain its overabundance of verve. This game doesn’t run, it bounces, helped along by a giddy and unusually cohesive audio-visual aesthetic.”

While Kotaku’s review system eschews numbered scores, Kirk Hamilton’s review was definitely positive. He was particularity impressed with the music and artistry of the game, and his descriptions are incredibly vivid, the sign of a great writer. While his review did stray into what I thought were unnecessary plot spoilers for a couple of paragraphs, his writing style is striking and infectious, and I can respect that.

Persona 5 hits store shelves on April 4th, and from all accounts looks to be an outstanding game in a year already overloaded with high quality releases. Are you excited for P5’s launch? Sound off in the comments below, and let me know who wrote your favourite review!